'I Feel Like a Broken Record': Kerrick Jackson on Missouri Baseball's Up and Down Start to The Season
The Tigers just barely squeaked out a winning record heading into SEC play. They have a game against their biggest rivals to thank for that.
If you look at their last couple games, Missouri looks pretty good. On March 12, Missouri took the victory against Kansas in extra innings. The Jayhawks came into the game with a 9-5 record and a series win over No. 3 TCU that weekend.
Before the Tigers defeated their rival, they took two matches against Purdue Fort Wayne in their weekend series. Unfortunately, they didn't play quite the same in the first two games of the series.
"I feel like broken record," head coach Kerrick Jackson said. "Unfortunately we're seeing who we are. We are seeing the ups and downs and we just got to continue to coach them up, to get them to grow up and be more consistent."
Missouri's series against the Mastodons served as a perfect example of this. In two of the games, the Tigers lost 9-7 to the PFW. In the other two games? Missouri run-ruled them by outscoring their opponents 31-3.
Obviously to most baseball fans, it would be clear that Purdue Fort Wayne likely sent their better starters and pitchers out in the first two games and were very taxed by the last two games. But looking at the first two games of the series, Missouri had the lead in both and gave them both up with two home runs in each game to give up their lead and seal the loss.
If this were just the only example of something like this occurring, there would likely be no cause for concern. But Missouri had a similar experience just the week before with Northern Kentucky, and also the week before that in their trip to California.
"We are just still trying to find that consistency and grow these young guys up," Jackson said.
Missouri's skipper and the team both knew that this year would be a growth season before it even started. They were intending to make it part of their identity, they just didn't know the beginning would be this rough for them or how much growth they would need.
"We're still a team that every day, we've got to try and work to get better," Jackson said. "We weren't going to come out and just have all cylinders firing at the beginning. I know that's who we are and I think our team knows that is who they are."
In the games they did seem like they had all cylinders firing, the team looked as if they may be able to compete against SEC opponents. The Tigers just need to figure out how to be that team more often.
"What I told the team was to just keep making steps forward," Jackson said. "Whether they're full steps, baby steps, half steps, it doesn't matter. We just got to keep improving on a regular basis."
Jackson isn't about to let these losses define them, he is choosing to show his players how to learn from them. He is helping them work on their mindset. But, it's an ongoing process.
"What you see from us is that we'll do something really, really well," Jackson said. "Then, we'll have the same opportunity and we'll do it bad, and then we'll have the same opportunity and we'll do it well."
The upside to this rough stretch is the Tigers are learning to battle through adversity. Missouri has figured out how to battle back in late innings, by not playing "hero ball" with their swings. They have learned how to work as a team to overcome a deficit.
But Jackson has a new goal for his team for the rest of the season. It's a quite simple one.
"It is inspiring that you dig yourself a 20-foot hole and work to climb out of it," Jackson said. "Hopefully, we don't dig that hole in the future. The fact that there is some grit and there's some fight in our guys, that we can battle through adversity, is a good sign. Now, let's have that adversity not be self inflicted."
